Republicans call for Syria action

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Republican Mike Rogers has cited classified information that he said “strengthens the case that in fact some small amount of chemical weapons have been used [in Syria] over the course of the last two years”.
Photo: AP

Republican lawmakers have stepped up calls for US action against Syria in the face of growing evidence it used chemical weapons against its population in a bitter civil war.

But wide differences remain over what should be done and whether President
Barack Obama
is correct in proceeding cautiously before declaring the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has crossed a game-changing "red line".

"I think the options aren't huge, but some action needs to be taken," said Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Speaking on US television's This Week, Rogers cited classified information that he said "strengthens the case that in fact some small amount of chemical weapons have been used over the course of the last two years".

"And the problem is, you know the president has laid down the line – and it can't be a dotted line. It can't be anything other than a red line," he added.

A US intelligence assessment earlier this week found that the Syrian regime was likely to have used chemical weapons against its civilian population, but the White House said Obama wanted more proof.

Obama has warned that Syria's use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer" that crosses a US "red line".

The United States has provided non-lethal aid and political support to Syrian rebels, but so far has shied away from supplying weapons or other military assistance.

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Certain influential Republicans, who have long called for US military aid to the Syrian opposition, warned that inaction now sends the wrong message to Iran about US seriousness on its nuclear weapons program.

"If we keep this hands-off approach to Syria, this indecisive action toward Syria ... we're going to start a war with Iran," Senator Lindsey Graham said on TV's Face the Nation.

"We need to get involved. And there's a growing consensus in the US Senate that the United States should get involved."

But he acknowledged that "Syria is difficult" and action there would be risky.